Friends and family of the prolific rock singer were stunned when he was found dead last week in a Detroit hotel room, which the medical examiner determined was a suicide.

“When someone famous kills himself, just like when someone famous dies of a heroin overdose, people say, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ People don’t realize how enormous of a problem suicide is for middle-aged men in America and in Massachusetts,” said Franklin Cook, director of community outreach for MassMen.org, which provides prevention resources to men struggling with suicidal thoughts.

The suicide rate in Massachusetts rose by 40 percent between 2004 and 2014, due in large part to the number of middle-aged men taking their lives.

Men 35-64 accounted for 44 percent of the total number of Bay State suicides in 2014. That toll rises to 67 percent for men 25-64.

“The increased numbers of fatalities is being driven by men in their middle years,” Cook said.